Day in the Life - Zach Sims

8:30 a.m. -- The Day Begins

Zach's day starts with a breakfast with Matt Turck from Bloomberg Ventures at The Smile. He orders an iced latte and chats about Codeacademy's business model and office space.

9:05 a.m. -- Reading In

Zach starts his day in the office doing the same thing many of us do -- he reads and responds to a few emails.

10:05 a.m. -- Scrum

The Codecademy team meets for its daily all-hands meeting.

Office Details

Top: Growlers rest on the floor by an unused TV.

Bottom Left: Zach's collection of pens that he's received from funding their corresponding Kickstarter campaigns.

Bottom Right: Zach adroitly uses a trackpad instead of a mouse.

11:03 a.m. -- Let's Meet

The group decides to meet and holds congress over a large wooden cable spool.

11:08 a.m. -- The Meeting Continues

Everyone contributes equally to the meeting, and Zach takes comprehensive notes with pen and paper. He has a penchant for writing tiny notes.

11:38 a.m. -- Still Meeting

We slip away for a look around the office.

11:45 a.m. -- Under the Desk

Zach keeps a few sets of spare clothing items around just in case. Since he often spends upwards of 12 hours there, we're not surprised that he keeps some different clothes on hand.

11:53 a.m. -- A Quick Personal Call

We find the team still meeting, but Zach has slipped away for a brief phone call.

12:04 p.m. -- Back to the Command Center

Zach's desk is situated in the middle of the Codecademy team -- no corner office for this guy (yet).

12:10 p.m. -- Quick Chat

Zach meets with Sasha about pedagogical issues with the site.

More Office Details

Top Left: A t-shirt fit for any hipster

Top Right: Makes sense that this is around, right?

Bottom: There has to be toys around to unwind when you're working fourteen hour days.

12:30 p.m. -- Lunch with the Team

Everyone puts their Seamless order in at the same time. Today: Arbor Bistro. Zach orders dumplings and rice.

12:50 p.m. -- Not One Moment Alone

Normally quiet elevator time to himself is invaded by an ever-present camera.

1:07 p.m. -- Second Lunch and Coffee

Zach meets with investor and board member Andy Weissman. The two discuss issues on a wide range of topics, as if they're old friends, breaking the usually somewhat adversarial nature of CEO and board member. Zach orders another iced latte (yes, more coffee) and snacks on bread with olive oil.

1:45 p.m. -- Off He Goes

Andy heads uptown. Before hopping in his cab, he has a couple of quick last thoughts to share with Zach.

2:00 p.m. -- Skype Call

Zach secludes himself in one of the sound-proofed booths.

5:30 p.m. -- Still At It

"If we're not working hard, someone else is," Zach says.

9:01 p.m. Into the Night

We had to leave to write our story. Zach and his team continue to work into the night.

"Everything I own is made of weird," the co-founder of Codecademy tells me while he shows off the many Kickstarter campaigns he's supported. Zach Sims is an avid collector of pens and many of them are displayed on his desk. They're all Kickstarter projects.

Sims' day typically starts at 8:30 a.m. and routinely ends after midnight. Today, he has breakfast with Matt Turck, managing director at Bloomberg Ventures, hurrying back to Codecademy's office at AOL Ventures for "scrum" at 10 a.m. After discussing everyone's schedule, a contingent of the team breaks away at to review current and upcoming products. Jimmy Li, Allison House and Adi Dahiya — all early twenty-somethings — join Sims in a small room with a giant wooden spool serving as a table.

Art sits on the floor, propped against the walls. It seems like information overload, but what's one more thing to look at amid the meetings and deadlines? The team could serve as ambassadors of the new vanguard of multi-tasking professionals.

After the product meeting, Sims slips out to take a quick phone call that evolves into a much longer conversation. He moves fluidly through the large office space at the AOL Venture Capital offices before finally settling into a booth for privacy.

Around noon, he emerges from the privacy booth and ambles over to the large stone lunch table that spans the entire width of a center portion of the office. There he joins Curriculum and Product Manager Sasha Laundy for a quick informal meeting.

Shortly after Sims and Laundy break with a ceremonious high five, the entire staff orders via Seamless for lunch together. This is a team-building ritual that occurs every Tuesday through Thursday.

"It's an easy way for us to connect as a team," says Sims, while eating dumplings and rice.

So far the day hasn't yielded any major excitement, but that doesn't mean Sims isn't serious about his business and bringing about a sea-change by empowering people with the knowledge of coding.

We head out of the office to meet with an investor. During the walk he describes the work ethic he and his team share.

"We often work from around 10 a.m. until midnight or so," he says. "If we're not working hard, someone could be out there working harder."

Just after 1:00 p.m. Sims steps into Il Buco where he meets investor and board member Andy Weissman. Sims and Weissman grab a table and conversation flows freely and easily between the two. Sims orders an iced latte and they both get San Pelligrino sparkling lemonades.

While Sims may be pedal to the metal with work, he also indulges himself with the quirkier side of the Internet. He has a soft spot for GIFs, especially the Dole banana ad from Japan.

He's also a big fan of rapper Waka Flocka Flame. He and his team have even gone so far as to make several chatbots that deploy in their group chat system if someone types a particular phrase. He uses Twitter actively, though you'll have to be approved in order to gain access to his network.

Despite the early success and $12.5 million in funding, Sims doesn't get a whole lot of sleep at night. The reasons are unclear to him, but he guesses it's lingering stress about a new launch of a particular bunch of code or a looming hiring decision. The night before we met he tried to go to bed around 2:00 a.m., but didn't fall asleep until 3:00 a.m. He was up by 7:00 a.m. and out the door to a breakfast meeting. He was yawning a bit during one of the meetings, but he didn't seem ragged or rundown.

He's well-kept, but it's clear that his attention to detail at work doesn't carry over to his own appearance. He's running a start up, not vying for a socialite award, so it doesn't surprise us that he isn't bothered by sandals that are split in three places or a collar run astray.

But fashion details aren't the keys to success for a startup. It's having the drive and motivation to put in the long hours. Zach Sims and his team at Codecademy certainly are capable of that. When we left for the evening at close to 9:00 p.m., Sims and his team were still hard at work, showing no signs of fatigue.

"I'm pretty much working whether I'm in the office or not. Having a phone means always being tied to work. That said, work isn't always 'work.' It's spending the day with smart people and building something that can change the world."

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